The very good girl Laika, a scrappy three-year-old stray from Moscow, was sent into space aboard Sputnik II #OTD in 1957. The first animal to orbit Earth, she became a national hero. This was cold comfort, since the mission wasn’t designed to return her to Earth. 
The press referred to Laika as "Muttnik." Here she is with Mushka and Albina, who were also trained for the mission. Mushka might have gone to space instead of Laika, but she wasn't eating properly.
The plan was to give Laika a painless, fast-acting poison after about a week in orbit. This was the official Soviet account for several years afterward. But it wasn't true. Apparently, Laika died of overheating and asphyxiation somewhere between 6 hours to 4 days after takeoff
Oleg Gazenko was the scientist who selected and trained Laika. Many years later, he said "The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog."
Anyway, Laika and her colleagues got a pretty raw deal.
Canes itur ad astra 🐕🚀🌌
Maybe we could all encourage @dog_rates to give Laika a 15/10.
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